IESC Announces Frank Pace Award Winner–John Warren
August 28, 2018
Volunteers have been a critical part of IESC’s mission since 1964. Every year, IESC recognizes individuals whose dedication and service have truly made an impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the world.
The Frank Pace Award, named for one of IESC’s founders, is awarded each year to the volunteer expert who performed the most outstanding project in the previous year. For 2017, IESC recognized John Warren for his volunteer support on our U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded Food for Progress Exporting Quality program in the Dominican Republic. Mr. Warren went on two assignments to the Dominican Republic where he identified and helped the program encourage public and private actors to work together to help support the avocado industry. On his second visit, he established a public private partnership in Pedernales, in the Southwest part of the country along the border with Haiti. The goal of the partnership was to support Dominican avocado growers in helping Haitian growers produce high quality avocados on their own farms and then market them through the Dominican Republic. This included the establishment of a 30,000 avocado plant nursery, which aims to produce an additional 30,000 plants before the program ends. Mr. Warren’s assignment was particularly notable in that the Haitian participation as partners in the avocado export industry transcends the historic Dominican/Haitian employer/employee relationships.
